Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday criticized the Obama administration’s new directive on bathrooms for transgender public school students by saying: “JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the women’s restroom.”

“We must get our country back on track,” Abbott, a Republican, added.

JFK wanted to send a man to the moon. Obama wants to send a man to the women’s restroom. We must get our country back on track. #tcot

Amid the public debate over the issue recently, the Obama administration announced Friday a new guideline saying public schools should allow students to use the bathroom and locker room of their chosen identity — and not their gender from their birth certificate.

Critics, like Abbott, accuse Obama of executive overreach with the directive, saying earlier this week on Fox News: “Understand this, there’s only one body of the three branches of government that can write the law and that is Congress. We have a president who decided, well, if Congress is not going to pass the law, he’s going to impose the law. And so the president is turning the Constitution on its head.”

In an interview with BuzzFeed this week, Obama defended the order, saying: “It is part of our obligation as a society to make sure everybody is treated fairly.”